Genesis 2:12

And the gold of that land is good,.... Arabia was famous for gold: Diodorus Siculus (x) speaks of gold in Arabia, called "apyrus", which is not melted by fire out of small filings, as other; but as

And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. Bdellium , [Hebrew, habªdolach (H916)]. What substance is meant by this word has been a subject of much discussion.

Good, i.e. better than ordinary. Bdellium, which signifies either a precious gum, of which see , or gems and pearls. Once for all observe, that many of the Hebrew words or names of stones, trees, birds, and beasts, are even to the Hebrew doctors and others, both ancient and modern interpreters, of uncertain signification, and that without any considerable inconvenience to us, who are free from the obligations which the Jews were formerly under of procuring such stones, and abstaining in their diet from such beasts and birds as then were sufficiently known to them; and if any were doubtful, they had one safe course, to abstain from them. The onyx stone, a kind of precious stone, of which see , , .

Genesis 2:12 And the gold of that land [is] good: there [is] bdellium and the onyx stone.Ver. 12. And the gold of that land is good.] But pale, because it feareth, saith one, wittily, those many that lie in wait for it. The common cry is, "Who will show us any good?" That will I, saith God to Moses, when he gave him a glimpse of his glory. and I will "show thee, O man, what is good," &c. As for gold, how good soever in itself, it is to men but an imaginary good at best: for it is opinion which setteth the price upon it: brass or leather, saith Seneca, that is, stamped for coin, may pass as well as gold; it did so some time in the Roman provinces; and here in England also, in the time of the barons’ wars. Yea, gold oft proves to the possessors a real evil. It doth always so, when it gets within them, as it did within the covetous Pharisees, so that they "said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence". Pindar saith, it was an opinion of the people concerning Rhodes, that Jupiter rained down gold upon that city, so rich it was; yet is it now in slavery to the Turk. America is said to have as much gold ore as other earth: yet are the Americans bound by the proud Spaniard to be both popish and poor upon pain of death. Susiana, the country here called Havilah, the gold whereof is so good, had its name from Shushan or Susa, the palace of the kings of Persia, the stones whereof were joined together with gold, saith Cassiodorus: yet is it now called, in the Persian tongue, Valdac, from the poverty of the place. "Trust not," therefore, "in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy". And the onyx-stone.] Precious stones are but earth blemished and impure. Bernard. ταενοντα

(11, 12) The name of the first is Pison.—“The full-flowing” (Gesenius), or “free-streaming” (Fürst). Neither derivation has much authority for it in the Hebrew language, and we must wait for the true explanation till the cuneiform inscriptions have been more thoroughly examined. As two of the four rivers of Paradise rise in Armenia, so we must probably seek the other two there; but the conjectures of commentators have thus far suggested no probable identification of this stream. Compasseth.—This word, without strictly meaning to go round, gives the idea of a devious course (comp. 1 Samuel 7:16; Son 3:3), as if the river had now reached a level plain. Havilah may mean sandy land (Deutsch), or circuit region. There seems to have been more than one country of this name; but the most probable is that in South-Western Arabia, afterwards colonised by the Joktanites (Genesis 10:29), which this river skirted rather than traversed. But we know of no such river, rising in Armenia or elsewhere, which answers to this description now. Besides gold of great purity, pronounced emphatically “good,” this land produced” bdellium,” a scented gum, to which manna is compared (Numbers 11:7), though the meaning even there is uncertain. Instead of bedolach, bdellium, the Syriac reads berulchê, that is, the same word in the plural, but with d instead of r. These two letters being very similar, not merely in the square Hebrew alphabet now in use, but in the original Samaritan characters, are constantly interchanged in manuscripts; and as berulchê means pearls, the sense agrees better with the other productions of Havilah, gold and onyx stones. As bedolach is a quadriliteral, while Hebrew words have only three root letters, we must look to the Accadi an language for its true signification, if this be really the right reading. The onyx stone.—Though there is considerable authority for this translation, yet probably the LXX., supported by most ancient authorities, are right in regarding this gem as the beryl of a light green colour (leek-stone, LXX.). The root signifies something pale, while the onyx has its name from its markings resembling those of the human nail.

Verse 12. There is bdellium (בדלח bedolach) and the onyx stone, אבן השהם eben hashshoham.] Bochart thinks that the bedolach or bdellium means the pearl-oyster; and shoham is generally understood to mean the onyx, or species of agate, a precious stone which has its name from ονυξ a man's nail, to the colour of which it nearly approaches. It is impossible to say what is the precise meaning of the original words; and at this distance of time and place it is of little consequence.

12. bdellium] LXX ἄνθραξ: Lat. bdellium. In Numbers 11:7, “manna” is compared with “bdellium”; where the LXX gives κρύσταλλος. Possibly it may be identified with an aromatic transparent resin, obtained from balsam (balsamodendron mukul), and found in Arabia as well as in India, Bactria and Africa. The Hebrew name b’dτlaḥ ? is probably a foreign word. Another rendering, “pearls” (which are abundantly found in the Persian Gulf), would be more poetical, and possibly more appropriate for comparison, with “manna”; but we can only conjecture. the onyx stone] or beryl. Hebrew Shoham mentioned elsewhere, Exodus 25:7, Job 28:16. A precious stone is clearly intended; possibly = “carbuncle.” Assyriologists have identified it with an Assyrian word Samdu; but what Samdu was, is not known. Sayce conjectures “turquoise”; Haupt “pearl.”

12. Bdellium — The word δαγμη occurs only here and in Numbers 11:7. The Septuagint renders it by ανθραξ in this passage, and by κρυσταλλος in Numbers.